Birthdays in Brazil

Remembering my Initial Culture Shock

The following is a post from my blog in 2009, almost exactly four years ago. For me, it's interesting to look back on my initial observations and reactions. I like seeing that I still have the same opinions about things like cake.  My romanticized vision of Brazil is very apparent in this post, and all my early posts really. Everything was magical.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Another Year Older

Lets start this off with a random fact: Today in Brazil is the beginning of Day Light Savings Time...this is funny to me..just last year around this time I asked my friend if day light savings time existed in other countries...

As of Sunday October 11, I am another year older. I spent my birthday weekend in the city of Guarujá..a place famous for its beaches. I spent four nights and two complete days there with my second family and their friends. Friday I went to a sushi restaurant for the first time. I was assured by a man named Chico that there was a very good hospital near by, so it was alright to try everything. :) Saturday I was given a tour by car of the town and its scenic locations. I was taken to a very nice restaurant (Food is very very significant here and everything is good. Not everything...but 9 out of 10 new foods I try I love. I have never had an unsatisfying meal and I am starting to show signs of that) After food there was shopping and birthday presents. Much later my friends Lucas(Brazilian) and Aleck (Taiwanese) called me up...they just happened to be in the same city located at least four hours away from where we all live...and invited me to hang out with them. I got dressed with the help of the two daughters in the household...borrowing their clothes and jewelry..and then before Lucas and Aleck arrived I spent some time with the two daughters and their friends while a very handsome Brazilian guy played guitar.

My birthday started very early with the singing of Parabens...at 12:00 am on OCT 11...in a car full of people I didn't know and didn't speak English. It was cool. Beyond that, the night was uneventful...and I returned to the house where I was staying and stayed up late talking with the daughters and their friend.

MY BIRTHDAY DAY!!! I went to the beach. The beaches here are different. This beach stretched at least a mile and a quarter and all along the beach were venders and cantinas and ...There were tons of people...but not in the water. Practically the only people in the water (Atlantic) were the surfers because it was a bit chilly. The thing to do on the beaches here when you are not drinking, playing some sport or in the water, is parade up and down the beach...and at some point everyone does it. There are so many people..it reminded me of traffic. All you do is walk. It is nice.. Another nice thing about beaches here is that really no one cares.  I was the whitest person on the beach (no one even came close to my transparent color) but no one cared. No one cares! No one judges! And no one looks anyone else up and down. The Brazilians really seemed to be content with themselves at the beach and nothing else mattered, nothing else phased them...

After my beaching, there was time for relaxation and then a little later a BBQ birthday party. The daughters invited their boys and their friends and Lucas, Alick and family came and of course my second family was there, so it was a nice party with good people. Later there was a huge, beautiful chocolate cake..(however..I think they over do cakes here with multiple fillings and different flavors...I prefer cake in the states I think)

My birthday did not stop there however, just yesterday was the third singing of Parabens (Congratulations..Brazilian version of "Happy Birthday" and "For Hes a Jolly Good Fellow" all wrapped into one) with candles set in ice cream.. ohh Ice cream...I found my favorite type of ice cream here..Milho...or corn. Seriously, it is amazing.

Things I have noticed:

-Girls do not shave above their knees

-Homes do not have basements

-Almost all young girls have long hair

-People of all ages are wearing braces

-Brazilians love the TV series "House"and "Friends"

-Futbol..Soccer...is practically a religion

From: http://katielynninbrazil.blogspot.com.br/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=15

Guarujá October 2009

Guarujá October 2013

Cute Shoes and an Update

The Project
While I am here in Brazil I am also taking an online business course through the OSU's Fisher College of Business as part of my study abroad package. In one of the mandatory meetings prior to my exchange, one of the program directors mentioned that this course, and the tasks we will be expected to complete for this course, will help us to have concrete answers to the future question "what was the benefit of your study abroad?". This course currently has me finding businesses of possible interest, contacting them and setting up future interviews.

Outer Shoes
Outer Shoes is a shoe store/brand that started in Rio de Janeiro in 2004. I came across the store in Rio in 2010, when Outer only existed in that city. I fell in love with the eco-friendly theme and the smart leather styles. I bought my first pair of Outer shoes that year and wore them proudly until March of this year when I officially retired them (I put them in the trash, panicked, and then took them out and photographed them. I decided they were still to beautiful to be trash and made plans to turn them into flower pots). Almost four years later the Outer brand has expanded across Brazil. The store is not yet "popular", but has had continuing success and growth. I chose to contact this store as part of my project. I filled out a "contact us" form online and was surprised when the next day I received an email from an individual from Outer who agreed to give me information and an interview.

Timing is Everything

Two weeks ago (only a few days after the previously mentioned email) I went to São Paulo with my host parents to celebrate Sérgio's mother's 97th birthday and then to pick up Rob, my visiting boyfriend, at the airport. The day of the birthday party my host mother and I went to Morumbi Mall in São Paulo, where I saw online an Outer shoe store was supposed to "open shortly". I was convinced the store would not yet be open. To my surprise, however, the store had opened two days before and their website had not yet updated. In the store I talked to a cool lady who happened to work in the Outer headquarters in Rio. I told her how I thought it was so nice that Outer got back to me so promptly and with a positive response. She asked me who sent me the email, I gave her the name, and she told me that it was actually the owner and creator of  the brand and store who replied to me and agreed to an interview! Woah! The news gave me celebrity shock. I asked for my new friend's picture with my new Outer shoes (Yay! I bought new Outer shoes!) and emailed it to the owner the next day, thanking him again for agreeing to an interview.      

                                                 

Current News
Rob leaves for Columbus on Monday morning. As an exchange student, past and present, I have always wanted to share the experience with someone I loved. Sometimes when hit by culture shock or struck by the beauty of something or someone out of the ordinary I get a bit sad that I am "alone" in the experience. Rob finally gave me a chance to share a little bit. Two weeks went by too quickly, but maybe it was enough to entice him to come back with me again. Maybe it was enough that he can miss it with me when I am back in the states.

We leave for São Paulo tomorrow, where we will stay the night near the airport and leave early the next morning to catch his flight. These past two weeks with him were the happiest ones I have had since my arrival. Tonight I made him cookies and cried while talking to him about tomato sauce. Sigh...love is a weakness. Good night.


                                      

Novice Culture Shock: an Interview with Robert Philpott

Veteran's Point of View

Since 2009 I have spent over 14 months in Brazil and the rest of the in between time studying the country. Certain aspects of Brazilian culture still surprise and affect me emotionally and physically but my sensitivity to the more peripheral  aspects of the culture has worn down. My boyfriend, Rob, is currently experiencing Brazil for the first time. He arrived on Tuesday morning and will be here for a total of two weeks. Everything is new to him (language, food, transit, people etc.). Rob is currently going through the initial phases of culture shock and I have decided to take advantage of his novice point of view for this post. The following is an interview with Rob. Enjoy.

An Interview

Q. What stuck out to you on the ride from airport to hotel in São Paulo.
R. "The landscape seems very different. The trees are different. The buildings are brightly colored and seem to have been built using different methods of architecture. A lot of buildings seem to not have been kept up with. Traffic was obviously different. The roads were very crowded. Motorcyclists weave in and out of traffic. Many billboards alongside the road were blank, and the ones I noticed that were not blank, advertised building materials like floor sealant, cement and plumbing pipes".

Q. Do you speak Portuguese?
R. "No. I know about ten helpful phrases. like please, thank you, excuse me, sorry, I need..."

Q. How do you feel about not speaking Portuguese in Brazil?
R. I was regretful that I didn't learn more (before coming). It makes me feel nervous, like a fish out of water. It is scary.

Q. What happened at the juice stand?
R. "I didn't speak enough Portuguese to order a soda (Sukita) and the workers didn't speak any English. I had to point at what I wanted and hold out the money I had. It made me feel embarrassed.

Q. Where you able to get your soda?
R. "They ended up giving me the wrong thing. Instead of the soda they gave me a powdered orange juice drink. But it was my fault for not speaking the language. I was embarrassed and just took what I got."

Q. Where have you been in Brazil?
R. Guarulhos, São Paulo, Guarujá and now Piracicaba.

Q. What was your favorite place so far and why?
R. Guarujá because there was a beach there. You (Katie) drank out of a coconut. It had a very tropical feeling. It felt most like a vacation. While Piracicaba doesn't have a vacation feel, I have never been in the presence of such kind people. Brazilian hospitality is great. I don't think Americans are as hospitable in terms of kindness, politeness, openness etc. Taking good care of your guests seems to be more important here than it is where I am from and I love that. Makes me want to be as hospitable in the future to any guests I may have.

Q. Talk to me about Brazilian food.
R. "I like the buffet style restaurants where you weigh your food. I like cupim and vinagrete. Cupim is beef, part of a cow's spine. Vinagrete is olive oil, vinegar and diced vegetables. There is a different variety of fruits here which I have been excited to try. I don't like all of them, but I like most. Meals seem to beserved with less vegetables. Lots of meat and cheese. I am glad beer is popular here like it is in the states. I haven't had a meal that did't impress me. I like pão de queijo."

Q. What fruits didn't you like?
R. "I don't like papayas (mamão)"

Q. Anything you want to talk about?
R. "I like the houses here with open ceilings. With the weather here people leave their doors open. You can't do that in the US. Bugs come in.

I thought it was strange that in the bus station the toilets didn't have seats.

Lot's of stores have English names and a lot of clothing has English words on it. Some of the names seem a little silly, like "Shoulder" and "Metabolic" for stores names. I saw a shirt with "read meats" written on it". I am curious to know if Brazilians went to the US and saw a store named "Ombro" if they would think it's silly.

I don't think Americans realize the implications of having such a large event (In São Paulo) and the infrastructure needed to support it. It's assumed that Brazilians love soccer more than anywhere in the world and it would be a perfect place to have the World Cup and that seems to be where the thought stops. I wonder if the organizers of the World Cup share the same concern of the Brazilian public. There seems to be a lot of concern (by Brazilians) that adequate preparations are not being made".

END
Thank you Rob for allowing me to wake to up for a Sunday morning interview.

"Meet Me In My International Office"

Good Day
My blogs are more often negative than not. Maybe that's because I am more motivated to write when I am irritated. Sorry. Every reader deserves a few positive articles, and in the future when I am looking back on this electronic public-diary, the happy articles it will be an aiding reminder that my experience was equally wonderful as it was difficult.

"In the Hopes for a Better Future" 
In August I blogged about my "Ongoing Complaints" which were related to lack of response to my emails, the receiving of incorrect information, lack of communication about important events, and lack of follow through all on the part of my host institution's international office. I continued (continue) to encounter these issues and got fed up about two weeks ago when I was sent an email about "Important Information" missing from my files. To my knowledge at that time I had given them everything they asked for, but what I didn't know is that they needed something they never asked for.

A RNE is an identification card for foreigners. Upon entering Brazil all exchange students must apply for a RNE and the official ID will be sent to your temporary residence from Brasilia a few months later. In the meantime, we foreigners carry around a paper version of it. What I was not informed of was that after receiving this little paper I needed to return to the Federal Police and ask them for my official RNE number. This I was not told. It was a very simple issue to resolve. Once I learned it was needed I went back to the Federal Police station and got it in a matter of minutes. The problem was, that once again, I was not given information.

The same day I retrieved my RNE number, the day after I was told it was needed, I sent a clear and respectful email to the International Office, voicing my issue with the fact that I did not receive this information earlier. I briefly apologized for voicing my frustration to the student intern who was receiving my email and asked her to pass it along to someone who could appropriately receive my concerns in the hopes that they would attempt to fix these issues in the future.

Checkmate
In record response time the director of the International Office informed me that it was the Federal Police who should have told me I needed to return and that if I wanted to voice anymore complaints I could meet her in her office. I agreed. Today was that meeting. I created a specific list of previously mentioned issues and went in her office desperately hoping not to offend or cry (ugghhh...this happens).

Relief 
To my surprise the faculty member at my host institution responsible for setting up the student exchange between Fisher and ESALQ came too. He sat down with a pad of paper and started taking notes as if I was teaching a class. They listened to what I believed to be weak areas of the program and after each aspect I mentioned we briefly discussed ideas on how to improve them. The director of the international office at times was defensive but overall I considered the meeting to be a success. Maybe I'll bake her some cookies so she knows there are no hard feelings.

Double Good Day 
The arrival of my man buddy is only four days away. He actually arrives Tuesday, but around 4 AM, so that can't be counted as a day, and the sun has already set here so I stick with my previous statement of "only four days". We plan for a bit of sight seeing and beach going and then a quick return to the beautiful Piracicaba to celebrate my 23 years of life. I excite!